The First Pillar of Creation

And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [the Beast, aka Anti-Christ] whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Revelation 13:8

Contemplating the universe can be an awe-inspiring experience when we include in our thoughts the Majesty and fully Perfected Attributes of the one who spoke it into existence. This universal concept is even something youngsters wonder about. I am reminded of the time my then 9-year-old granddaughter asked me out of the blue, “Pepa, what’s outside of the universe?” I thought “And that from a 4th grader!” In my shock I could only say, “God is the only one, honey.” Who else could be there?

This week in my meditations I have remembered how Isaiah and Paul wrote that no eye has seen, nor ear heard, the things God has prepared for those who love Him (Isaiah 64:4, 1^st Corinthians 2:9). He is everywhere-present in His power and understanding and holds all things under His authority. Things within the universe and without-the transcendent-with an ease guided by His word or thought. Isaiah writes of Him: Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on scales and the hills in balance? (40:12)

How can a God of that magnitude not be able to move and answer our needs? And all that power is exercised in a Grace that is beyond amazing, raising it to the category of astounding!

The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world revealed an unconditionally loving Father who knowing Adam would fail by his own choice of disobedience (Genesis 3:6), had already set into motion an incredible Plan of Redemption. It was decided it would be His life for ours, even before earth’s first foundational pillar was set (Revelation 13:8).

Our Father in heaven, being unwilling that any should perish (2^nd Peter 3:9), has chosen all to receive a crown of righteousness from His Son. Unfortunately, not all are willing to accept His gracious offer. For those of us who do, His great power, wisdom, and knowledge are tempered in a personal and loving relationship. It is so personal that He knows the number of the hairs on your head (Luke 12:7). And with the billions that pray to Him all at once, He hears you individually and understands your condition and pain fully, as if it were His own. He even intercedes on your behalf to the Father (Romans 8:34). What greater advocate can we have to the Father than a perfect fellow human being who has experienced life in its harshest realities?

To whom else can we go for the words of eternal life? God is not only good, He’s faithful and able to do for us personally. That’s why I continue to call Him a Personal Savior. I wanted to share with you these thoughts on the greatest Majesty, Love, and Power of the Lord Jesus Christ as the New Year approaches. He is in complete control, blocking and hindering the darkness Satan brings on the world. Even though it may not seem so, things are happening that will fulfill His will and plan.

May the God who is in control of all things within Creation, and outside of it, be your Peace in the coming months. We hold fast to His promises looking forward to His Second Appearance when He will make all things new (Revelation 21:1). We have a Joyous future to look forward to. Trust in Him, believe and take heart! David writes in Psalm 32:1, Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

Creation’s first pillar, laid at the foundation of the world, was the cross, and it was set for you. Your penalty for sin was paid before the world came into being. Rejoice, and praise our Blessed Savior. Jesus Christ!

See you next year!

Ken

Comfort Ye, My People

Praise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 2^nd Corinthians 1:3-4

This holiday Season of Advent & Christmas can be a time of particular emotional stress and difficulty. I endeavor each week to be sensitive to my readers, in being empathetic to their trials while offering the truth of sound Scriptural doctrine (Titus 2:1), offering God’s promises of comfort and hope to His people.

This being the season of the year we remember the First Advent of Emmanuel in the flesh, it can be a great encouragement to weary hearts. That the Father sent Him the first time means there will be a Second Advent with a Redemptive Righteousness and Rule for all Creation (Revelation 21:1).  If our hope lies in His resurrection from the dead, then the promise of His Second Advent remains a true and blessed hope.

Celebration of a certain day and month are not in question. Paul tells us not to judge one another on our choice of festivities (Colossians 2:16). While there is nothing in Scripture that instructs us to celebrate the birth of our Savior, there’s nothing in Scripture that forbids it. What we do celebrate is that the Eternal Godhead deemed an appropriate moment in history to veil His glory in human flesh, to come and live with us and suffer in the reality of our misery. In doing so, proved Himself victorious over Satan, death and despair.

He holds all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). That all includes any conflict you may have going in your life right now or will in the future. In this life it's not a matter of if but when. Remember, He experienced the harshness of humanity firsthand, even to execution on the cross (Philippians 2:8). He completely understands what we are going through and He’s completely faithful to make all things new.

So, with these words, ye, His people take comfort in His grace and hope and comfort one another with them. Celebrate that He experienced the dust of the road, hunger and thirst, rejection, and pain and death. But with it He held the power and authority to raise Himself from the dead (John 2:19-21). He’s not just familiar with it, He willingly became part of it and overcame it! His blessed Second Advent is at hand! That’s news that can make any heart merry.

 

Ken

  

You Can't Beak That

The word of the Lord came to Elijah: “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kirith Revine, east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there.” 1^st Kings 17:2 (NIV)

Elijah the Prophet was in big trouble. He had just finished prophesying that God would withhold rain from Israel as judgment for her sins. The king, Ahab, was really angry.

God told Elijah to lay low for a while. He sent him to a secluded spot where He promised to supply his needs. Morning and evening He sent Ravens to bring him food. God used this time of testing to prepare Elijah for greater trials yet to face.

The LORD always leads us into places where He sustains us and trains us. There’s no sin in wondering why we’re going through a trial. But for myself, I’ve found my own comfort and growth was strengthened when I began to ask, “What does God want to teach me, here?” He brought His prophet into the desert and took care of this Orthodox Jew in a very unorthodox way. Elijah’s food was delivered, prepackaged, in a neat beak.

God shows us that in any situation in which we find ourselves, He can meet our every need, even if it means using the wings of ravens to bring Him honor, praise, and worship.

But this was only part of the story. As we read on, we find that when Elijah’s time in the wilderness was done, God didn’t fly him home to live a life for the birds. Instead, He used him in many more ways. When his time on earth was finished, God dispatched a chariot of fire to fly him to Himself (2^nd Kings 2:11).

God is always faithful. Even in the dry and barren wilderness experiences, He seldom works the same way twice. He doesn’t want us to become enamored with routine solutions which we will begin to trust over Him.  

The exciting thing is He’s not limited in what He can do for us or how He accomplishes it. He can use the wings of a 747 or the wings of a raven. Birds of a feather can flock together, to be sure, but the LORD’s ability to meet your needs goes far and away above that. That’s enough to cause a weary heart to take wing! When ravens won’t fit the bill, He will.

Ken   

Look Dad, No Hands!

Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to Him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen Ephesians 3:20-21

“Hey, Dad, look, no hands!” Those are words that can strike terror into the souls of dads and moms alike. Like the time my then eight-year-old daughter said it while on a swing. Before I could say "No!", she let go, falling backwards onto the ground. She knocked herself out, but fortunately only broke her arm and not her neck. Thank the Lord for large mercies!

Remember all those great saints of God who stood back and said victoriously, “Hey, no worries, Lord. Don’t need ya. I’ve got this one,”?  No, because there weren’t any. They were broken and fallible men and women, many of whom got themselves into their dire circumstances and couldn’t get out.

But look at those who, taking their hands off and trusted God to do the impossible: Abraham sired the son of promise at 100, Joseph, falsely accused, spent years in prison. However, God made him second in command to Pharoah. Moses was called by God after 40 years of leading flocks in Midian to lead a nation, Rahab, a prostitute, became an ancestral link in the Messianic line, Daniel and his three friends, after being carried into slavery, became influential advisors to the court of kings. And the list goes on.

The lifechanging power of the Supreme God and His risen Christ was affirmed to Jewish believers in the first century. One was a particularly nasty tempered individual, named Saul of Tarsus, whose hatred of Christ and His followers was confronted on a road outside the city of Damascus. Saul, a Hebrew of Hebrews, circumcised the 8^th day, of the Tribe of Benjamin, and in regard to the law, a Pharisee (Philippians 3:5), encountered the Jewish Christ and again the impossible was easily done. Saul met his Moshiach (Messiah) and believed, becoming Christianity’s most ardent advocate and defender, Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles.

If you’re frantically chasing the Impossible Scheme, remember the One who says He can do the impossible, can do it. We are encouraged to persevere in faith and in prayer. Once as a teen, I told my youth leader, “I don’t have enough faith when I pray.”  He answered, “You prayed, didn’t you?”  When I nodded, he said, “Even if you didn’t feel it, that you prayed was an act of faith!” When we say to God, “Look, Father, no hands,” there’s no alarm in His mind. He just smiles and rolls up His sleeves! Pursue, persist, press on!

Now all glory to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. It is to His glory only. All saving release is through the working of His hands alone. Pursue, persist, press on, Beloved!

Ken

Sitting Shiva

When they saw him [Jōb] from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.  Job 2:12,13 (NIV)

Job (Jōb) was a righteous man who it is believed lived before the time of Abraham. The biblical book that bears his name tells of the catastrophes and suffering Satan brought upon this godly man and his family.

When Job’s friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar learned of his plight they dropped everything and went to comfort him. In the course of the story, their “comfort” quickly turned to judgement, saying the reasons for his calamities were due to his many sins and arrogance. In reality his sufferings were things he held no control over (Job 1:10-12). The three friends meant well and began well, but throughout their visit the wisest thing they did was sit in silence with him for 7 days and nights.

The Jewish people have a custom when bereaved or devastated, called Sitting Shiva. Shiva (shib’ȃh) is the Hebrew word for seven and seems to parallel the Book of Job. In Shiva, a Jewish household opens to visitors (usually for a 3-day period), under a set of certain protocols, where family and community can come and pay their respects. As a people, we more often than not, are uncomfortable with those who suffer and in not knowing what to say will offer comments that are gratuitous, insulting, and can be calloused to their pain. Sitting Shiva means that listening and support more often than not supersedes talk. Sometimes just a simple hug, a meeting of the eyes that says “I see and sense your pain, and I’m here to support you,” is adequate. Sometimes silence is enough said.

You may be in a world of hurt right now and no one has called on you except your own types of Job’s comforters. Most all of us have been there at one time or another.

Christ Jesus is sitting Shiva with you. He’s got your hand in His and He’s looking eye-to-eye with you in your pain, giving you His support. He is perfectly aware of that throbbing heartache, that relentless pit in the stomach and that band of tightness that plays on your every breath. He watches every tear that falls, on your face and in your heart, and has known from eternity past, the darkness you will face in this, the valley of your struggle.

Let me encourage you that God in His silence does not mean God in His absence. If all you’re hearing is silence it doesn’t mean the Lord doesn’t care. It means He’s Sitting Shiva with you, His beloved Child. He’s there. He knows. He cares. Meanwhile, when all you hear is silence, be assured, He’s at the right hand of the Father, pleading your case! He intercedes for you, as your personal advocate. (Romans 8:34).  

Silence may be golden, but the Word of the Lord is His bond. All His words are trustworthy and true. He offers you His peace in the quietness of His presence, with a tender and calming touch. He sits Shiva with you. And that silence, Beloved, speaks volumes.

Ken

Faster Than That

In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 1^st Corinthians 15:52

We’ve all heard that well-worn quotation about the certainty of death and taxes, but did you know the Bible teaches there will be some believers in Christ who will not experience physical death?

The Apostle Paul, who received his knowledge of the Gospel through Christ’s revelation (Galatians 1:11,12), wrote of the harpazo (removal with great power) of all believers, both living and dead (1^st Corinthians 15:51,52, 1^st Thessalonians 4:13-18). The dead in Christ will be resurrected first, then those who are alive will be caught up (harpazo) to be with them and the Lord forever. This is also known as the Rapture. Our modern word rapture comes from the Latin translation of the Greek harpazo. They mean the same thing.

Jesus said He would go away for a time unspecified to prepare a place for us, but He would also return for us (John 14:2,3). We can’t know the exact time of this historical event, but He revealed to us the signs of what would be happening as that day approached (Matthew Chapter 24, Luke 21:5-36).

How quickly will the great gathering of the Church happen when it happens? Paul speaks of it being in an instant (Greek, atomos), and in the twinkling (rhipē) of an eye. The reference is not to the speed of the blink of an eye, but to the movement, or jerk, the eye makes when moving to look at something. To give some reference to the speed that is implied here, it takes an eye 400 milliseconds (4/10s of a second) to blink. For an eye to do one movement, or saccade, it can take only 200 milliseconds (2/10s of a second)! Christ will bring to Himself both dead and living believers in less time than it took your eye to move to read this last word!

How should we then live our lives in light of the current chaos and evil in the world? Jesus said to not allow our hearts to be weighed down with disobedience and the anxieties of life, but to always be on the watch and pray that we may be able to escape the coming judgments and stand before the Son of Man (Luke 21:34, 35). He encourages us to look up with anticipation and joy, for His redemption is near (Luke 21:28).

God tells us these things not to scare us, but to prepare us. Jesus says He will make all things new (Revelation 21:5). The darker things get only reveal the greater brilliance of His Light. He did say if He went away, He would return for us (John 14:2, 3).

What He has already made known to us through the Law & the Prophets, and eye witness and historical accounts, can only be the pre-dawn glow of the Son’s Rising, that will give a new and brilliant radiance to eternity’s skies. When He does all He promises to do, His righteous Kingdom will come. He Himself testifies that what He says is trustworthy and true (Revelation 21:5). He has proven Himself faithful-the unchangeable God-Yesterday, Today, and Forever (Hebrews 13:8). And when He does it it will be faster than the blink of your eye.

Ken

Is Atheism Dead?

If you're really looking for something that will challenge and encourage your faith, find the time to watch this video by best selling Christian author and apologist/speaker, Eric Metaxas.

Ken

 

Atheism is Dead